


Making a splash!

by RussianSunflower3



Series: Sunflower's WHUMPTOBER 2018 [22]
Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Friendly Fire, Gen, I took a sad prompt and made it good, Teaching Natsume about fun things, Water Guns, Whumptober 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-08-05 19:38:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16373783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RussianSunflower3/pseuds/RussianSunflower3
Summary: It's October.Outside is cold, and the air is frigid.That's not going to stop Nishimura hosting a water gun fight.





	Making a splash!

“Natsume, catch!” Something plastic hits against Natsume’s chest and drops into his waiting hands, and he blinks at it. It’s a brightly coloured, obviously meant-for-children water gun.

“Nishimura... What- What is this for?” Nishimura grins, always the devious one, even if it’s always in a fun, adventurous way.

“You said last week that you’d never had a water fight, right~?”

“Ah… Yes.”

“Then let’s have one! We’ll be in teams!”

“... It’s cold outside. We’ll all get ill.” 

“An’ that’s why we’re using _warm_ water~!” Natsume sighs with a tiny amount of irritation, but Nishimura has such a bright, happy energy that it’s impossible to get mad. From behind, Kitamoto chuckles.

“Just agree with it, Natsume~. You know Nishimura won’t give up once he’s dead-set on something.”

“Taki and Tanuma have already agreed to it, so there’s _now way_ I’m letting you get out of it~.”

“See?” Despite the fact he’s being dragged into something irresponsible and completely out of season, Natsume huffs a quiet laugh under his breath, eyes softening as he looks down at the little plastic water gun in hands.

It’s wonderful to be dragged into so much like this. It’s wonderful to have friends, for the first time in years.

“Okay, but on one condition.”

“Condition?” Nishimura and Kitamoto blink in unison before sharing a confused look and turning back to Natsume. He smiles, more of a grin than anything.

“I get to pick the teams.”

By the time Taki and Tanuma turn up to join them for the water fight, Nishimura is already _soaked_ , having been forced to check the temperature of the water by his friends constantly flicking it at him. It had been okay until Natsume’s fat cat jumped on his back and _dunked_ him.

“Started without us?” Nishimura stares at them blandly, until Taki and Tanuma can’t hold back their laughter any longer, joining Kitamoto in howling in laughter and Natsume’s muffled laughter into his sleeve.

“Maybe we should put the cat inside. We are playing with water, after all.”

“Are you sure you’re not just intimidated by Sensei’s preemptive move~?”

“ _Put the cat inside, Natsume._ ” Natsume laughs a little harder, but scoops Nyanko-sensei up anyways and places him just inside the door, muttering to him quietly. Nishimura doesn’t understand how he’s so attached, but… He’s glad Natsume has something to cherish.

Nishimura passes Taki and Tanuma their own water guns, whilst Kitamoto makes sure everyone’s belongings are safely tucked in the hallway. Touko has already given them permission to use their house as a ‘safe base’, where they’ll refill the water guns, but the main fight takes place on the fields and forest just out of town.

“Okay! So the rules are; No headshots, no holding someone down, and if you get sprayed 6 times, you’re out~!”

“How can we tell if someone has been sprayed 6 times or not?” Tanuma’s question is legit, but Nishimura grins, striking a pose like he’s got some big reveal coming. Unfortunately for him, Kitamoto beats him to it.

“Here. These cotton targets will change colour with warm water. That way, we can tell who’s been hit or not. There’s three for your back, and three for your front.” 

“This is how you play water gun fights?” Natsume blinks at the cotton targets in confusion, eyebrows furrowed and lips pulled tight with tension. He doesn’t remember ever seeing these on the kids that used to play these games. Kitamoto sheepishly rubs the back of his head.

“Not really, but Nishimura came up with it and it seemed like a good idea, so…” He trails off, unaware of the massive relief that brings Natsume. It’s isolating and weird, sometimes, to know that everyone else knows what they’re doing but have no idea himself.

If it’s game they’re all playing for the first time, it’s more fun and less pressure. 

“Natsume! It’s time to pick the teams!” That sharp, teasing grin comes back onto Natsume’s face, his eyes sparkling with something sly, and Nishimura gulps when the gold peirces through him, staring straight at him.

“Okay. All of us against you~.”

“... Eh?” Natsume smirks as the other three start giggling and chuckling, moving over to stand besides him and leaving poor, drenched Nishimura standing alone. 

“Eh?! What, no, that’s not fair! Natsumeeeeee!” He laughs, enjoying the little moment of teasing before shooting a soft smile towards Tanuma. It would be unfair to pair Nishimura and Kitamoto together, since they seemed to work in perfect synchronization.

Taki, Natsume wanted on his team, mainly because he’d seen her practicing to hit a leaf falling from the tree and _got it_. He wasn’t going to pass up that talent. 

Tanuma returns the smile with an amused nod, jogging over to Nishimura’s side to placate things. 

“The numbers are still uneven, but this will have to do~.” Taki sounds like she’s already having the time of her life, water gun ready to go and cotton targets slapped on, three front, three back.

“Since there’s only two of them versus three of us, we could give them a head start to hide in the forest?” Natsume nods at Kitamoto’s suggestion, so Kitamoto walks over to inform Nishimura and Tanuma as such.

Watching Nishimura light up with joy never gets dull. He grins brightly and waves, sprinting off outside the grounds of the house with Tanuma behind him, making some kind of plan with each other. Taki laughs quietly.

“You know they’re just going to ambush us, right~?” 

“Ah, that’s only two out of six. We’ll just have to be alert.” 

Sometimes, Natsume forgets just how jumpy and alert he can be, considering he’s constantly hounded by yokai. Because the split second they enter the forest, he breaks into a sprint, and dives behind a bush, shooting out a spray of water that gets Tanuma, poking out from behind a tree. 

Before Tanuma can even retaliate, Taki is already taking him down a peg, lukewarm water adding colour to a second one of his targets. Nishimura can be heard yelling tarzan-style in the distance, followed by Kitamoto’s screech of surprise. 

The excitement hits Natsume all in one, and as he sprints off to go and help Kitamoto, he laughs, carefree and without burden.

The game continues for _hours_ , dodging and ducking, shooting and sprinting, laughing and just having fun. Each time they leave the field and forest, they enter a peace treaty, meaning both teams can still talk pleasantly as they walk back to the Fujiwara’s to refill their water guns with warm water.

At one stage, once everyone has been shot ‘out’, they start off with another 6 cotton targets and switch up the teams. It’s Taki and Tanuma vs Natsume, Kitamoto, and Nishimura, and they’re playing until 4 in the afternoon.

The sun is beginning to dip in the sky, and there’s only three people left. Taki, who is undoubtedly the best of them and already won the previous round, and Natsume and Kitamoto. Neither of them are very good at aiming, but Natsume is _great_ at dodging and Kitamoto seems to get lucky with finding people.

“She’s hiding behind that rock over there. If you go in from the left, I’ll go in from the right and- ...Natsume. Did you just shoot me?” Natsume presses his lips together, trying not to laugh, the spout of his water gun pressed against the last cotton target Kitamoto had that wasn’t coloured.

“You menace, that’s friendly fire.”

“Sorry, Kitamoto~. I’ve never played this game before~.” with a sigh, Kitamoto stands and holds his hands up in surrender, walking off with a grin, calling over his shoulder.

“You knew _exactly_ what you were doing! Have fun avoiding Taki!” Natsume doesn’t get a chance to turn around to see if Taki is still behind the boulder, when a huge barrel of water is tipped over him, Taki, Tanuma, and Nishimura lifting it up.

It takes Natsume a second to register what’s happened.

“He-Hey! That’s cheating!”

“It wasn’t in the rules, Nat-su-me~!”

“You two were meant to be out!”

“Nothing said we couldn’t help.” Tanuma smiles, and Natsume clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth, averting his gaze. There’s not much he can do now but humbly accept defeat, since all the cotton targets have changed colour and he’s sopping wet from head to toe.

The game over, Taki winning both times, the group heads back the the Fujiwara’s house as one big group, jostling each other, joking and laughing. As they approach, Touko is in the doorway, waiting for them.

“Oh goodness, look at you all! You’re soaked! I’ve run both the upstairs and downstairs bath, so you can take turns to warm up. Takashi, you’d better go first or you’ll get sick again.” 

“Ah, okay.” He slips his wet shoes off and towel dries his hair a little before jogging off up the stairs. Taki pushes Tanuma forwards lightly.

“Tanuma gets sick almost as much as Natsume, so he should go first too!”

“Taki…” There’s no time to protest as Touko ushers him off towards the downstairs bathroom, where a hot, luxurious bath awaits. For the time being, Nishimura, Kitamoto and Taki wait in the kitchen, plenty of towels all over the place to stop them dripping everywhere.

There’s fresh fruit on the table - the expensive kind - and they nibble on pieces as they wait, Taki occasionally slipping one to Nyanko, who she’s trapped in her lap.

By the time they’ve all done bathing and warming up, changed into pyjamas they brought with them, Touko has served a heart warming, cheerful hotpot. Stories and laughter are only interrupted when Shigeru comes into the kitchen to join them.

“I’ve set up the spare room next to Natsume’s, so you can all go up when ready~.”

“Thank you, Fujiwara-san!” Nishimura’s gratitude is echoed, and Natsume blushes as Shigeru ruffles his hair like any father would to his son, settling in one of the chairs to read a newspaper. When Natsume yawns, it seems to set something off in the others.

5 tired teenagers, after a whole afternoon water fighting, trundle up to the spread out futons, content to sleep with each other’s company.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liiiiiked~.  
> Please kudos and comment!


End file.
